The Theories of a Procrastinator: My personal challenge

James81 · Feb 16, 2010

In this thread, I am going to document a 30 day challenge that I've just begun as we speak.

Here's my theory behind WHY we procrastinate: either a specific need isn't being met or you are falling out balance with doing the things you WANT to do because you are too focused on doing the things you perceive that you need to do. (Take note of that word "perceive"...if it's even spelled correctly lol)

Anyway, I'm going to test this theory by doing something unorthodox. Instead of having work be the FIRST thing I do in a given day, work will instead by the LAST thing I do before going to bed. And, since I can't change my rigid work schedule to accomodate that, this means I have to change my sleeping habits. Here's how my habits will change:

1. Instead of going to bed at 11 PM or Midnight, I will go to bed at 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM (give or take) and wake up at 11 PM or Midnight.

2. From 11 Pm or Midnight until about 6:30-7 AM, I will do all the things that I want to do (which involves reading, writing, watching TV, exercising, etc.).

3. Then from there I will go into work and work until 4 PM.

My thoughts are that if I start putting my own wants FIRST upon waking, and giving my BEST time and energy towards the things I want to do instead of the things I HAVE to do to make bills, that I'll effectively remove procrastination from my life.

I'll update as I can prudently.

But I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on this and thought I'd share a semi-unorthodox way of beating procrastination.

My plan is foolproof. I cannot fail.

Yeshanu · Feb 16, 2010

I'd be interested to see how it works... :tongue

BTW, I do essentially that, b/c I work from 5 pm to 1 am, go to bed around 3 am, and wake up at about 10 or 11 am.

And it doesn't always work the way I want it to--I still procrastinate horribly on things (like writing) that I'd like to do.

Ambrosia · Feb 17, 2010

I believe you are going to find you are messing up your sleep cycles and it is going to cause you untold grief. I also doubt, having my own life-time achievement award in the art of procrastination, that your plan will work. But, I will be interested to find out if you have success with it.

For myself, procrastination appears to be a failed motivator design. I will procrastinate till the last minute, feel an urgency to get the work done, and then set to it with every ounce of determination and focus I have. But, by the time that sense of urgency kicks in, it is often too late to complete the task or do an excellent job with it. So the task is completed adequately but not with excellence, or it is not completed at all. The procrastination gets worse because I failed to do an excellent job last time, and the cycle repeats. I think it may be one of the levels of hell, actually.

Alpha Echo · Feb 17, 2010

Just a quick question - how will this work when you have your kids?

James81 · Feb 17, 2010

Alpha Echo said:
Just a quick question - how will this work when you have your kids?

That's a good question, because I just had them last night.

For those times, I intended to go to bed later and just wake up a little later. But my first crack out of the box at that I failed. lol

Went to bed after they left last night and slept until I had to get up for work this morning. So no "me time" today. But then again, I think about it and the evenings I have the kids I get very little "me" time anyway.

So this is like day 3, I guess, and so far I haven't accomplished much. But then again, I'm just getting acclimated to the sleep cycle thing. The biggest challenge for me here is working around the crap I have going on in the evenings. Like this evening I have a meeting for Little League at 6 PM, so I won't be able to sleep until later again. So, we'll so how that goes for tomorrow.

To the person who said it would mess up my sleep cycle...my sleep cycle is already messed up. Like I have no real set sleep schedule right now anyway. lol If anything, this would actually put some structure to my sleep cycle.

And I'm reminded of something my grandmother used to say. She used to say that a person's BEST sleep is the sleep they get before midnight. And I believe that. I believe it because it's been my experience. I always felt better when I'd go to bed at like 10 PM and wake up at 5 AM, then I would when I'd go to bed at midnight and wake up at 7AM. And that's the same amount of sleep. So with my little challenge, I'm making MOST of my sleep before midnight. So I can't wait to see the long term effects here on how I feel.

Alpha Echo · Feb 17, 2010

James81 said:
And I'm reminded of something my grandmother used to say. She used to say that a person's BEST sleep is the sleep they get before midnight. And I believe that. I believe it because it's been my experience. I always felt better when I'd go to bed at like 10 PM and wake up at 5 AM, then I would when I'd go to bed at midnight and wake up at 7AM. And that's the same amount of sleep. So with my little challenge, I'm making MOST of my sleep before midnight. So I can't wait to see the long term effects here on how I feel.

I agree with that. I love going to bed around 9. Since I wake up throughout the night quite a bit, it's lovely to wake up around midnight (which is usually the first time I wake up) and know I still have till 530.

Most nights we get to bed between 9 and 10 which totally works for me.

I'm interested to see how this turns out for you. It's definitely an interesting experiment! Good luck, and keep us posted!

Silver King · Feb 17, 2010

James81 said:
...My thoughts are that if I start putting my own wants FIRST upon waking, and giving my BEST time and energy towards the things I want to do instead of the things I HAVE to do to make bills, that I'll effectively remove procrastination from my life.

If you're not careful, you might also remove yourself from a job. Giving your employer less of your energy by changing your sleep pattern to satisfy your "wants first" sounds like a flawed plan and a disaster waiting to happen. On the bright side, though, if you get canned, you'll have even more time to procrastinate.

Here's a simple rule of thumb to live by: Spend your best hours of the day making money so that you can afford to goof off the rest of the time.

ad_lucem · Feb 17, 2010

Well, alls I can say is: good luck with that!

Cassiopeia · Feb 17, 2010

James the only cure for procrastination is to recognize it, stop excusing it and get off your backside and do what has to be done. If you want something bad enough you'll just do it.

I am going to bed early and getting up earlier and earlier. My evenings are mine for the most part and I don't have all the organizing and time utilization bits down completely but it did occur to me that I expect to pack too much in my days. For me, right now, writing has to be a weekend thing because I'm writing on average 3 papers a week for school and building a business and..and...and.

Sleep through your night and get up at 4 am if you have to but procrastinating isn't fixed by a sleeping schedule. It's fixed by just doing what has to be done.

The Theories of a Procrastinator: My personal challenge

James81

Great Scott Member

Yeshanu

Elf Queen

Ambrosia

Grand Duchess

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.

James81

Great Scott Member

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.

Silver King

Megalops Erectus

ad_lucem

Peligro:Herbicidal Poriomaniac

Cassiopeia

Otherwise Occupied